The Magic of the Horse-Shoe

The Magic of the Horse-Shoe is a book by Robert Means Lawrence, first published in 1898. It offers a learned and wide-ranging survey of the folklore, superstition, and symbolic uses attached to the horseshoe and related talismans, tracing beliefs about iron, crescents, horns, fire, and other protective emblems across cultures and through history.

Lawrence moves between historical commentary, comparative folklore, and collected anecdotes, explaining why a simple forged object came to be hung over doors, used as an amulet, and woven into customs about luck, protection, and witchcraft. Written in the spirit of late-Victorian antiquarianism but attentive to oral tradition, the book is both a compact reference and a storyteller’s anthology of rural belief.

It has long been useful to students of folk belief, regional superstition, and the history of charms and amulets. Readers interested in horseshoe folklore, iron in folklore, protective charms, and Victorian collections of popular superstition will find the chapters rich in examples, theory, and evocative local lore.